


Waterfall

by natsubeatsrock



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Based on Lone Journey II, F/M, I cried writing this, Implied Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:08:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25039759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natsubeatsrock/pseuds/natsubeatsrock
Summary: Based on Chapter 417 "Lone Journey II". After coming to terms with Igneel's death, Natsu struggles with the challenge of preparing to defeat Acnologia. As this happens, he meets up with an old friend.
Relationships: Natsu Dragneel/Lisanna Strauss
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Waterfall

**Author's Note:**

> I encourage you to read "Aftermath" before reading this story for context.

Igneel is dead.

It's been a few months now, and I can hardly believe that he's gone.

It's like, I know he's gone. I was very much present when he died. I saw Acnologia kill him and I saw him dissipate into the air. I shouldn't struggle with the fact that he's gone.

And yet, I still don't think it's fully set in yet. I still struggle with the fact that he isn't around anymore. I still struggle with the fact that I can't go searching for him anymore. I still struggle with the fact that he was inside of me the whole time. None of it seemed to make sense.

Not long after Igneel died, I had a pretty long and emotional conversation with Lisanna. Since then, I've felt a lot better about the whole thing. I was feeling bitter and resentful towards him, but she got me to see that despite what happened, he still did love me. Looking back, I feel like I subconsciously knew that he couldn't have done what he wanted to do, but it took our discussion to get me to see that.

When we talked, I told her that there was something he wanted me to do. I told her that I needed to go away to get ready to do it. I even promised her that I would come back when I was ready.

What I didn't tell her was that I promised Igneel that I'd beat Acnologia. Now, at the time, I was too wrapped up in the loss of Igneel to focus on that. And after talking to Lisanna, I was wrapped up in the idea of getting better and our conversation. Somewhere in between leaving to train and now, I calmed down, and the crushing realization of what I promised hit me.

I promised I would beat Acnologia.

I wasn't able to put a scratch on him let alone either of the times I met him. And I needed help to escape him in both cases. I wouldn't be able to rely on another dragon or Fairy Sphere to help me for a third round. How was I supposed to defeat him?

It didn't help that Happy and I spent the beginning of our trip dicking around. We didn't decide to actually start training until a week into training. And even then, it was hard to tell how much better I'd gotten since I left. I couldn't tell how much I was improving over the training. Was I any closer to beating Acnologia?

Then the craziest thing happened. 

Happy and I were walking through the woods. We were low on food and starting to get hungry. So, I saw a giant beast and decided to take it down. It went down in one hit. We were so happy that we were going to eat. But as we were celebrating, I looked down and saw a face neither of us could have expected.

It was Gildarts!

We haven't seen him since everything that happened with Tenrou Island blew over. Since then, there was the Grand Magic Games, the mess with the Eclipse Gate or whatever, and then the fight with Tartarus. We spent a lot of time catching up on good times. 

As I told him about the cool things that happened, he told me some of the things he did. Apparently, he saw the Grand Magic Games during Pandemonium. He cheered so hard for Erza and Cana that he destroyed a city. As someone who was at the event, I don't blame him.

We spent the late afternoon in a natural set of hot springs and decided to set up camp close to each other. I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't. Part of me wanted to call to Gildarts to see if he was still awake but I couldn't. Considering Happy had gone to sleep, I decided to take a bit of a walk away from the camp. I found a waterfall and sat in front of it.

As nice as it was to see Gildarts again, something had bothered me the whole day. Before the whole Edolas situation, he told me that he found a dragon that really did a number on him. We didn't know it at the time, but that dragon was Acnologia. At the time, I figured I could find him and get some information out of him. After all, I wasn't a dragon slayer for nothing.

Of course, between the incident on Tenrou, the Eclipse dragons, and our more recent run-in with Acnologia, the idea didn't mean much to me anymore. I had felt bad about that for a while, but I never got the chance to apologize. We didn't meet up much after returning from Tenrou and, by the time I would have worked myself into apologizing, he already left for another mission. I didn't want to think about it when we first saw him again, but now it was all I could think about.

Of course, he had to show up behind me.

His first thought was that I was having issues with Lisanna. While that wasn't terribly untrue, it wasn't what was troubling me. As embarrassing as it was, I apologized to him for wanting to go after Acnologia. And from there, I started him about everything else that happened since Tenrou. I even told him that I promised Igneel that I would beat Acnologia. It was as if apologizing to him was enough to make it easy to talk to him about everything else.

Thankfully, I had enough self-control to avoid talking about my meeting with Lisanna. I did mention opening-up to someone about the whole Igneel situation, but I was not about to be teased about that by Gildarts again.

Speaking of which, this meeting was different than that one. For one, there was a lot less crying. It wasn't as if I was any less emotional then than now. it would be more accurate to say that my emotions were much less raw given the recovery time and that earlier conversation. It was the difference between events that happened a few days ago and events that happened months ago.

For another, it was as if Gildarts listening with a different energy than Lisanna was. Lisanna had an understanding of what I was going through, given her time in Edolas. She tried to help me get to a better sense of understanding where I was. Gildarts didn't have that kind of experience but he knew what it was like to face Acnologia and feel hopeless. He listened to my fears and concerns, without questioning or confirming any of them.

Gildarts and I have had an interesting relationship. When I was younger, I thought he was the coolest. I wished I could be just as cool and strong as he was. I would fight him all the time, hoping that I could beat him. I thought that, if I could beat him, nothing would be impossible. And, at the same time, I could tell he really cared about me, more than the other members my age. He treated me as if I was the son he didn't have.

Or, more accurately, the kid he didn't know he had.

When I found out that Cana was Gildarts' daughter, part of me felt kind of jealous. I still wanted to be with Igneel, especially since I figured he was still somewhere out there. But, somewhere along the way, I guess I started to think of him as a kind of father to me too. And I guess I wished that, if it weren't for Igneel, I would want Gildarts to be my dad.

After I told him everything, he reassured me of my goal. He wasn't dismissive of my goal, but he didn't outright say that it was absolutely possible. He just told me that, if I work hard enough, it's not like I had no shot. After all, if anyone can take out a dragon, it would be a dragon slayer.

We didn't talk much after that. We went back to our mats and started to go to sleep. Gildarts went to bed quicker than I did. Before I did, my mind drifted back to Lisanna. She didn't come up in our conversation much. Mostly on purpose. 

I've never been one for romance. The whole thing made me feel weird. I understand liking people and being friends. To a degree, I understand hating people enough that you want the worst for them. And, while I don't have any, I've seen the bonds that siblings have with each other and could see myself being in a similar relationship if things were different.

But, love? Like, the romantic kind? The kind that makes people date, get married, and have kids together? I've never been able to fully wrap my brain around that. If Lisanna really did have those feelings for me, I don't think that I would magically gain the ability to return them completely.

But I do care about her. I had been sure of that since we thought she had died. Going through the Edolas incident confirmed that my feelings for her didn't go away during that time. We hadn't had a lot of time since her coming back to do much together. We stayed in the same cell during the Tartarus ordeal, but that was it. And yet, I still cared more about her than anyone in my position probably would have.

I don't know what I was feeling, but I hoped that she felt the same way about me, and that was all I felt I needed to know.

My train of thought broke as I saw Happy turn over in his sleep and mutter something about fish. I couldn't help but smile at the sight. 

Lisanna and I worked together to hatch him from his egg. At the time, we thought it was weird that a cat with wings would hatch from an egg. Though, we rationalized it with the thought that almost everything else that has wings came out of an egg. We'd come to learn that he was actually part of an outer-dimensional race that ruled over humans. 

Either way, he is my friend. Easily my closest friend. We had been through all kinds of crazy times together and had each other's backs. I was glad that he was with me. I don't know that I would be able to handle being away from the guild for so long if he wasn't with me. Even if he couldn't help me train, I relied on him to keep me grounded.

Of course, I would never tell him that or he'd never live it down.

He knows that I had the ability to roast him like one of the fish he likes. He also knows that I never would do that to him. That's driven him to poke fun at people. He picked that up very early on from our time with Lisanna. Along with my apparent "lack of restraint". When he directed that energy at Lucy or another one of our friends, it was fun. But it made it hard for me to be serious with him.

Still, seeing him sleep reminded me that my friend does have a soft side to him.

As I closed my eyes and started to drift off, I was reminded of my friends. Of Lucy, Gray, Erza, Wendy, and everyone else in the guild that I left behind. I didn't feel any stronger at the waterfall than the day before. I didn't feel as though I had a reason to think that I could beat Acnologia.

But, as I started to doze off, for the first time since leaving to train, the challenge really got me fired up.

**Author's Note:**

> This started as chapter 2 of Aftermath, but I couldn't finish it in time. So, I finished it up as its own story just in time to celebrate Natsu Day. And with news of Lisanna week, I may have an idea for a story from her perspective. It seems as though I've accidentally created an alternative universe for myself.
> 
> Chapter 417 is one of my favorite chapters in the series. However, I've always disagreed with the fandom's interpretation of the waterfall scene. I've always maintained that the discussion was likely Igneel-related. But considering the events of "Aftermath", I decided to use that scene as a time for Natsu to overcome any issues he may have with deciding to challenge Acnologia. Considering the reconciliation with Gildarts over their conversation at the beginning of Edolas, I consider this a win-win.
> 
> Two tricky things about this story. The first was deciding not to have dialogue in this story. I figured it would capture the spirit of the silent chapter to explain thoughts and actions. This ended up being a bit tricker than I thought. The second was focusing on Natsu's outlook on relationships. I wanted to make this about more than just Natsu's view of Lisanna and decided to delve into how he might view Gildarts and Happy more than I originally planned.
> 
> Thanks for reading this story! See you!


End file.
